East London - Jacques Rudolph scored the only century of the day when the 8th round of SuperSport Series matches started around the country on Thursday.
It was Rudolph’s 41st career century (105 off 171 balls with 13 fours), and included his 14,000th first-class run, as the Nashua Titans battled their way to 256 all out at stumps after winning the toss at Buffalo Park.
The day, however, belonged to the young Chevrolet Warriors’ seamer, Andrew Birch, who followed up his match-winning 9 wickets in the previous match against the Chevrolet Knights with a career best 6/52.
He is certainly reveling in the opportunities to take the new ball created by the absence of Wayne Parnell and Lonwabo Tsotsobe.
Five of his six victims were in the top order, and included the key wicket of Rudolph. Farhaan Behardien (63 off 151 balls with 5 fours and a six) and Albie Morkel (55 not out off 84 balls, also with 5 fours and a six) were the only two batsmen to offer Rudolph much support.
The other two matches were more severely affected by the weather.
The Nashua Mobile Cape Cobras, put into bat by the Nashua Dolphins at Sahara Stadium Kingsmead, were restricted to 194/5 off 57 overs.
Justin Ontong (78 off 115 balls with 12 fours) and Justin Kemp (49 not out off 121 balls with 7 fours) were the main contributors while Quinton Friend and Jon Kent took 2 wickets each.
The bizhub Highveld Lions were also put into bat at the OUTsurance Oval by the Chevrolet Knights, and managed 156/2 in 51.1 overs.
Stephen Cook (62 not out off 144 balls with 9 fours) and Alviro Petersen (52 off 99 balls with 10 fours) put on 99 for the first wicket in 31 overs.
Ryan McLaren took both wickets for the Knights.
Scoreboard at stumps on the first day of the SuperSport match between the Warriors and the Titans at Buffalo Park
Toss: Titans
Titans, first innings
B Snijman c Thyssen b Birch 12
J Rudolph c Thyssen b Birch 105
P Joubert c Bennett b Birch 11
F Behardien b J Smuts 63
H Kuhn lbw b Birch 0
M Mosehle c Jacobs b Birch 0
A Morkel not out 55
S von Berg lbw b J Smuts 3
CJ de Villiers c Price b J Smuts 0
E Links run out (K Smuts/Jacobs) 0
E Mbhalati b Birch 0
Extras (6lb, 1nb) 7
Total: (all out, 81.5 overs) 256
Fall of wickets: 1-48, 2-84, 3-173, 4-173, 5-175, 6-223, 7-237, 8-237, 9-244, 10-256
Bowling: A Birch 16.5-3-52-6, B Walters 18-3-51-0, S Mjekula 12-2-38-0 (1nb), N Boje 20-0-61-0, J Kreusch 7-1-19-0, J Smuts 8-0-29-3.
It was Rudolph’s 41st career century (105 off 171 balls with 13 fours), and included his 14,000th first-class run, as the Nashua Titans battled their way to 256 all out at stumps after winning the toss at Buffalo Park.
The day, however, belonged to the young Chevrolet Warriors’ seamer, Andrew Birch, who followed up his match-winning 9 wickets in the previous match against the Chevrolet Knights with a career best 6/52.
He is certainly reveling in the opportunities to take the new ball created by the absence of Wayne Parnell and Lonwabo Tsotsobe.
Five of his six victims were in the top order, and included the key wicket of Rudolph. Farhaan Behardien (63 off 151 balls with 5 fours and a six) and Albie Morkel (55 not out off 84 balls, also with 5 fours and a six) were the only two batsmen to offer Rudolph much support.
The other two matches were more severely affected by the weather.
The Nashua Mobile Cape Cobras, put into bat by the Nashua Dolphins at Sahara Stadium Kingsmead, were restricted to 194/5 off 57 overs.
Justin Ontong (78 off 115 balls with 12 fours) and Justin Kemp (49 not out off 121 balls with 7 fours) were the main contributors while Quinton Friend and Jon Kent took 2 wickets each.
The bizhub Highveld Lions were also put into bat at the OUTsurance Oval by the Chevrolet Knights, and managed 156/2 in 51.1 overs.
Stephen Cook (62 not out off 144 balls with 9 fours) and Alviro Petersen (52 off 99 balls with 10 fours) put on 99 for the first wicket in 31 overs.
Ryan McLaren took both wickets for the Knights.
Scoreboard at stumps on the first day of the SuperSport match between the Warriors and the Titans at Buffalo Park
Toss: Titans
Titans, first innings
B Snijman c Thyssen b Birch 12
J Rudolph c Thyssen b Birch 105
P Joubert c Bennett b Birch 11
F Behardien b J Smuts 63
H Kuhn lbw b Birch 0
M Mosehle c Jacobs b Birch 0
A Morkel not out 55
S von Berg lbw b J Smuts 3
CJ de Villiers c Price b J Smuts 0
E Links run out (K Smuts/Jacobs) 0
E Mbhalati b Birch 0
Extras (6lb, 1nb) 7
Total: (all out, 81.5 overs) 256
Fall of wickets: 1-48, 2-84, 3-173, 4-173, 5-175, 6-223, 7-237, 8-237, 9-244, 10-256
Bowling: A Birch 16.5-3-52-6, B Walters 18-3-51-0, S Mjekula 12-2-38-0 (1nb), N Boje 20-0-61-0, J Kreusch 7-1-19-0, J Smuts 8-0-29-3.